The Fairy Tail Fleet
by Sugerglider
Summary: It's been ten long years since Magnolia fell, and her people still stand. But after so long, they have hope again. Rumors of a Dreyar have reached many ears, and many are sharping their swords. Follows 4 crews of our favorites and many ocs. Dark stuff inside sometimes, don't like don't read. (Too many authors notes but their fun) Be warned, characters die, on both sides.
1. Chapter 1

A meeting of outcasts and a run away.

I own nothing.

The pirate ship Red dragon, location: 32 miles north of magnolia. 15 miles south of Teneru. Year 10 Magnolian, 1668 Alvearen

The red painted Frigate tore through the waves at nearly 12 knots as her captain, Natsu the Dragonslayer, contentedly starred out on the horizon. He loved the sea, the salt air, and most of all, his ship. For many years that was all he wanted or needed, now though, a certain blonde weirdo threatened to , no, had already become one of those needs.

She'd started as a shipwrecked and starving rescue, then an irreplaceable member of his crew, then finally, his first mate and lover. Now Natsu had a question to ask, and both had some decisions to make.

His mind began to wander through his memories of the last year and he smiled as he happily strode through memory lane.

(Authors note: it has come to my attention that I tend to put at least one of these in every chapter, they will contain information about the world, languages, religions, and other fun facts that I want to share, some will be partly important to the story, and some not, it's obviously up to you if you read them or not, but I found that I worked out things about this world that,although not needed, I still wanted to share(the limit is 3 per chapter) (I'm a world building nut, cut me some slack) anyway, enjoy)

Mythrik island: 3,489 miles west of Teneru. The frigate Red Dragon. 1 year ago.

Natsu was swearing, his mast was broken by that damn hurricane four days ago, that had also nearly slammed them on top of a full treasure fleet armed to the crows nest and with a bone in their teeth. Lucky for him and his crew, the enemy captains were too busy with the storm itself to pay the red dragon much mind. He wondered vaguely what had happened to them, but he'd lost sight of their lights not long after the last rouge wave he'd crested. It didn't really matter.

"Captain!" Shouted one of the men near the boats. "They're ready sir." Gesturing at the long boats.

Natsu nodded as his flow of profanity slowed to a few choice curses at the storm before joining the shore party. As he drew closer, he checked his vest for the two six barrel pepper-box pistols that hung there, then checked the pair of dueling pistols hooked to his belt. All there. Those pistols had made him famous, well them and the twin scimitars on his back, but they were one of the reasons why his crew was among the most terrifying in these waters.

Before he could stop himself he glanced upward at the flag waving from the fore mast and old Jolly Roger grind back at him over the pair of crossed swords. An odd black pattern on his forehead matched the tattoo on all of his crew, and a half dozen other crews as well. It was the mark of magnolias defiant banners, but more importantly, it was part of who they were.

He pulled himself back into the moment and grabbed the rope the boson offered him and heaved in time with the others, and together, they lowered the boat to the lagoon below.

The trip to the beach took longer than they would have imagined, rip currents fought them for every inch as they struggled to find a place to land. It was almost an hour before the three boats were unloaded and dragged beyond the tide line.

"Tie them up, then get the axes. Boats, you Mathis, Thomas, and Edward, come with me. There may be others on this island, and I want to know if they'll have a problem with us being here!" Natsu spoke loudly to make sure all his men heard him. "Stumpy, your in charge."

Stumpy wasn't her real name, but she'd lost three of her fingers to an Alvearen crewmen's short axe a long time ago, and the nickname stuck.

"Why her, I'm the best talker, why shouldn't I be in charge?" Momma S. Complained, just loud enough for her captain to hear. She was an older hand on his ship, and she had a bad habit of trying to mother anyone younger than herself, but her efforts there were genuine.

"Because if anyone comes near enough to hear you, they'll shoot you just for some peace." She grinned at his little joke and went about her work setting up the fire.

"Scouting party, let's get going! I wanna be back by dinner!" The rest of the party cheered as they drew their machetes and began hacking their way through the thick jungle.

On a ridge about a mile from the beach, a pair of chocolate brown eyes watched the ship with a mixture of relief and panic. It looked like a Feorie vessel, the odd mix of rectangular and triangular sails that she'd seen during the brief glimpse of the aft mast. The wind had been blowing the wrong way to see her flag though, and now one of the massive trees hid it from view.

She didn't know how long she'd been here, months at least, but she knew it was long enough. She just had to be sure the ship didn't belong to an Alvearen trader before going aboard. Anything else would do... Almost, if it belonged to one of the cowards... Well she'd wait and see.

She stood and tried to adjust the now-too-big-dress on her boney frame, another part of the silk fell away from the rest of the half rotten old thing and she prayed that she'd get something else to wear, even if it were just a shift.

Sighing, she grabbed the remnants of the once fine gown and nearly ran to her camp to get the only weapon she had been able to salvage from the dead hull of The Royal, an antique old cutlass, then set out to find out who her unfortunate possible saviors were.

It was the crashing that alerted him to the presence of another human coming his way, and the fact that he'd heard them meant it wasn't one of the scouts,or a member of the shore group either. All had been woodsmen before seamen, and none in his whole crew were that loud, not even Peggy. and she only had one leg. No this was someone else, someone to be wary of.

So he did what his instincts told him to, find them. Learn about them. And if necessary, kill them. He set off to do just that.

He caught up to the stranger and learned three things instantly. She was a she, she had been here a while, and she was sick. Her dress was falling to pieces with her in it and she was thin as a rope, her dirty and tangled hair might once have been golden blonde but was now nearly black with filth, but it was the old cutlass in her hand that drew his attention.

It was a Feorie design, and one he knew. He glanced at her hand and saw she knew how to use a sword, just not that one, but she could still be dangerous with it.

He pulled one of his pepper-boxes from his vest and checked it for blockages, nothing. He then calmly fired a round into a tree to his left to get her attention. It worked, just a bit too well.

The moment she heard the solid thud of a pistol she turned toward it and charged, hoping that her attacker didn't have another, if they did, she was dead.

She saw him only a few milliseconds after she turned and made a b-line for him. Her cutlass felt strange in her hand as she raised it for a slash at his throat. All she saw was a flicker of movement and her blade crashed into his upraised blade before she even knew it was out, the shock of steel on steel jolted her whole arm, nearly breaking her hold on her weapon, and she jumped back to avoid the counter blow that she was sure would come.

It never did.

The blonde woman stared at the strange man and began to notice some oddities. First, he had a pair of dueling pistols at his waist and a repeating six barreled monster on his chest, as well as one in his left hand. Secondly, he had a pair of scimitars, one in his right hand and the other on his back, presumably awaiting his left, and thirdly, he had pink hair!

The last alone turned the otherwise dangerous looking young man, into an interesting and exotic specimen, that was also kinda cute. His deep, reddish black eyes gave him a half tamed look that, she theorized, would do so even in the most fashionable nobleman's suit.

"Par lay?" The mans low baritone seemed to be like the flow of a river, despite his gross mispronunciation of the word. She found herself nodding in assent.

"Do you speak Feor?" He asked, with a Magnolian accent with a mix of salt on his tongue.

Her first instinct was to lie, but she wasn't very good at Alvearen, at least, not good enough to pass a native speaker. "Yes. Are you among the crew of that ship in the lagoon?"

"You could say that. When were you shipwrecked?"

His evasion was odd, but that was normal for lower crewmen on any ship, which surly he must be at his age, but it tweaked her interest.

"I don't know, months maybe. What happened to your ship, if I might be so bold?"

"Hurricane, the basterd came outa the west and gave us and a treasure fleet a good thrashin." His grin split his face, revealing abnormally sharp k9s. It turned out to be incredibly infectious.

The blonde fought herself as hard as she could, but a small smile broke through her efforts. She felt, soothed by his presence for some reason. Maybe it was the familiar accent, maybe it was his hair, but either way she did, and it surprised her.

"So, where were you when She fell?" The question wiped the smile from her face. Her confusion lasted the merest moment though. The girl could hear the capital s, and magnolians only had one She. He meant Magnolia herself.

She thought back to the day she now knew her home had burned, and was proud of where she'd intended to go.

"Sowed away on a ship bound for the city. My father was one of the cowards that abandoned Her though." Even now, nearly a decade later, she couldn't forgive the man, or the others that had abandoned the city of fairies and cherry blossoms. "What about you?"

"The line, I was a deck boy." His voice held such emotion the girl felt his pain.

"If your part of the crew, the ships not owned by one of the cowards, is it." The girl knew the answer and the boy contented himself by spitting out the side of his mouth. "That means I can trust you, to some extent at least. What is your name?"

Most people would have asked that first, magnolians on the other hand, had never been a "normal" people. Such oddities often get more pronounced after your home burning though. Before, you could run into someone, fight them, get hammered, and only ask their name after the pair of you have barfed all over the pub. Nowadays most will be your best friend before even asking, what this girl had done was considered rushing an introduction. But not answering was about the greatest insult one person could give another, and not asking in return was.

"Natsu." He answered after a moment. "What's yours?" He blamed her haste on her long exile on this island hell.

"Lucy."

Natsu started slightly, in the language of fairies her name meant light, it was considered a near royal name among their people. It was a name rarely given at all, and always to a happy, and brave child.

The shear unlikeliness of the name, along with it being well known to outsiders, made him suspicious. Not as much as at other times, or even other women, but his gut said she was being honest. However, it's always better safe, than sorry.

(Authors note. The naming of a child in magnolia happened at 3. Before then they are known as "little one". Also magnolian children are taught 2 languages from birth, the fairy tongue, and Feor. The first for religious and private use, the second for public use. If someone starts "talking fairy" to someone else, it's either intensely personal, quite private, or to identify one another in times of strife. No outsider has ever been able to talk fairy, traitors, lawbreakers, and oath breakers often forget the language(will be explained later, but it is particularly because of magic))

He smiled. "It's always nice to have some fire around." It was to odd, a girl named Lucy just happened to fall into his lap, no it wasn't very-.

She'd switched to fairy talk. "You think me a fool? Answer in kind, you half wit pink troll!"

His shock was so great he barely registered the insult. But it struck home soon enough.

"I had to be sure, most can do the act, all slow to say names and such. But no fake stone I've met can speak in this tongue, know that if you are false I will cut out your tongue, you blonde haired half sprite!" He grinned and switched back to Feor. "You must be starving, why don't you come to our camp? We have plenty of food."

Lucy hesitated, glancing at his hands. He still held his sword and pepper box, and had no intention of putting them away until the meal truce was struck. If she agreed, the pistol would be back where it belonged, if not... He'd hate to ruin one of the worlds masterpieces. Sure she didn't look it now, but he could tell she was at least outwardly pretty.

"A decent meal would be quite welcome. Thank you." And she smiled. He couldn't help but smile back.

"This is amazing!" Lucy bubbled happily over her bowl of rice and some kind of mushroom-cream mixture. "How do you make it, if I might inquire?" Her words slipping into a somewhat formal tone, as was proper for asking a chef for her secrets.

The woman named Momma S. Smiled warmly at the girl as she ate from her own bowl. She had a motherly face, and a motherly sort of softness in her figure as well, though the scar on her left cheek spoiled the image slightly. Given her title, she normally wouldn't be aboard a ship. Probably she would be in town, a cloth in one hand, and a spoon in the other. One for her tables, and the spoon would come down on any fool that tried to fondle one of her serving girls.

"It's not all that special dear." Her smile told everyone around her that she'd decided Lucy was now one of her children, just like them. "If I were able to get some chicken, maybe some bacon as well, id have you drooling down your front! This is just the bare bones of the dish."

Lucy smiled, if this was 'bare bones', she couldn't wait to try the real stuff. Someone laugh caught her attention and she looked in their direction, only to find Natsu and two kids coming her way. He seemed to treat them like younger siblings, but she doubted they were related.

"Momma S., who are the children with Natsu?" The question left her lips before she'd even realized she had it.

Momma S. Glanced over at them and her face grew a little stern. "Romeo and Wendy, the little fools must have stowed away in one of the empty water barrels." Her manor was one of a mother preparing to give out some spankings.

Lucy couldn't help but feel a little sorry for them.

Before to much longer, Natsu and the kids arrived at their fire and sat almost as one. Then Natsu introduced the pair to Lucy. Romeo was a tall boy, with black hair and eyes. Wendy was nearly his opposite, short, brown eyed and blue haired. But they both had a gleam of mischief in their eyes, and near identical smiles that would send any teacher hunting for a switch.

"Romeo is our cabin boy, and Wendy's the apprentice navigator. By the way, if you get pranked, and it involves water. Hunt for Romeo here, anything else is likely my little sisters fault." He grinned at the two, both putting on too innocent expressions. That was when she noticed Wendy was holding something.

Natsu followed her eyes and spoke at the same time. "Those are some shirts, pants and other things that might fit you. Stumpy went over and gathered them up while the rest of us were eating." He looked over at Momma S. "Remind me to ask you next time, Stumpy can't seem to say no to these little trouble makers."

Momma S. Just smiled and ladled out a bowl for the three newcomers. Lucy however, was trying to understand something.

"Your sister?" She asked, a bit hesitantly.

"Huh?"

"Is she your sister?" She clarified, gesturing at the young girl.

"Yep, and Romeo might as well be my little brother, as well as for most of the crews. Except Momma S., Stumpy, and Boats. To them he's more one of their kids, pretty much goes for the rest of us as well." He grinned at her suddenly. "You too, if you want to join up."

Lucy, not quite seeing what he meant, stared at him in confusion. "What?" She said at last.

"I'm offering you a place in my crew. Your obviously good with a blade, we just gotta find you the right one."

Lucy stiffened, she still wasn't sure he'd really made the offer, but it was slowly sinking in.

She started to list the reasons why it was a bad idea, and while many, she found herself with two overwhelming reasons too join him, and a lesser one. She would be a fugitive if she joined, but she would be free. If she was captured they would kill her, but she would be fighting the Alvearens. She might be killed, but she'd be out of her father's reach.

And that was the straw to break the camels back.

"If you need some time, you have till we ne-"

"I'm in!" She said, her voice firm and her mind made up.

"You sure?" Natsu asked, just to make it clear that it was her choice.

"Never more so."

"Alright then, welcome aboard." He spat on his hand and offered it to her, and she spat on her own before taking it. His callused, swordsman's hand griped hers firmly, and then let go.

"Glad to join you." She said, and smiled at him.


	2. Chapter 2

p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"Blue hair and jail cells/span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"The Dreadnought Iron Shadow. 60 miles east of Magnolia, Feore island, Bay of Pearls. Year 8, Magnolian, Year 1666 Alvearen./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"The /spanspan class="s2" style="font-family: '.SFUIText-Italic'; font-style: italic; font-size: 17pt;"Iron Shadow /spanspan class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"ghosted into the small bay and lowered a deep purple boat over the side. They would have to be fast, or else even the near invulnerable Feore vessel would be ripped apart by monstrous guns of the Alvearan fortress not even 100 yards from their port bow./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"Captain Gajeel Iron Blood had to stop himself from just opening up on that damn ugly thing with every cannon, rifle and pistol he had. /span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;" /span/p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;" span class="Apple-converted-space" /span'We're not dead yet you basterds, we won't let this blasphemy stand.' span class="Apple-converted-space" /spanHe thought, his hand drifting to the massive steel hammer he wore across his back. It was a two handed thing, with the head shaped like a silver dragon breathing fire, it's neck spike protruded out the back to make a vicious armor spike, and the fire forming the savage striking head. It's handle had etchings of scales on it, and a line of thick runes down both sides./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;" /span/p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"It was the hammer Metalicana's Vengeance, the weapon of the Iron lords of Appapie, a city on the southern coast of the island, wrought in the image of their greatest ancestor, the great iron dragon himself. /span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"It was this that marked Gajeel for what he was, and marked his promise./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;""Remember, the moment you start shooting, so dose the ship, so use your knifes and don't get seen." He said softly, but not whispering, as that would carry further. "And remember, this is strictly bird in the hand. Get who you can, and fuck off back to the boats, that big basterd over there is third of the list, if it's there at all." He gestured at the fort/span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;" /span/p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;" span class="Apple-converted-space" /span"Lilly, you stay here and prep the rest of the boats, you know the plan."/span/p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"He turned to see a massive man there, fingering the hilt of the 6 foot great sword on his back./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;" span class="Apple-converted-space" /span"Of course boss." He replied in rich deep bass. /span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"Gajeel grinned at his friend, showing his fangs as he got into his own boat, before it was lowered to the sea./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"(Authors note: so fangs are a mark that someone will do great things in the future, be it wright a poem, conquer an empire, or something along those lines. However it doesn't mean those without fangs aren't going to do something, however after they do their fangs come in. All Magnolians have the potential to grow fangs, but the ones that have them from birth are destined to. Gajeel and Natsu have had theirs from birth. P.s. it comes from the mixture of dragon and fairy blood in their veins. (I'll explain next time)/span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"It took half hour of quiet paddling before the first wave hit the beach, and Gajeel thanked the new moon and calm seas yet again. It was almost two dark however, and he knew that the other boats would have a harder time than his, and he knew deep down that some would get lost, but he pushed that to the back of his mind. He had a damn job to do./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"He leapt from his boat to the shore, helping the others drive it further up the beach. Than as groups of three, or fire teams as they called them, quickly charged the small town. /span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"Levi woke with a start, she'd heard something. Being quiet about it she left the ragged excuse for a blanket and moved to the window, her chains clinked lightly, it wasn't much, but it at least had a view of the sea. /span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"She didn't quite see anything, the night was too dark for that, but she sensed movement, and a lot of it. Cautiously she lowered herself to the floor, and moved a small stone from its place in the floor. The thing underneath was little more than a sharpened rock, but it had reasonably sharp edge and point. If it was a band of pirates, than she would take one of them with her if they came, at least, if they were the wrong kind of pirate./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"This was still her peoples land, no matter what those damn slavers said, and her people reminded them of that occasionally, and left the corpse for the jurri at the edge of the forrest. Even pests had their uses. A dark smile slid across her lips at that last thought./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"It was then she heard a soft thump against the right wall, and cautiously approached. From the loan candle, she could see something dark leaking from the outside through the badly built wall, and with one hand, she touched it. It was warm, and slightly sticky, carefully she touched it to the tip of her tongue, and immediately spat. Blood. /span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"She began to think, and quickly. It was still quite, so the dead person outside probably was a guard, that was good, whoever had done it had to know what they were doing, since there was no screaming or cries of alarm. That might also be good, but they had likely moved on from her part of the huts, that could be good or bad, she hadn't decided. /span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"She gave up when she remembered the bars, and glared at them. If she were only free, she could help others, but she wasn't, and so couldn't. She spat at the bars. She then returned to the window. /span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"It felt like hours later when she saw the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen, a great ship unloading her full fury at the harbor fort./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"Gajeel was simply astonished, every thing had gone perfectly to plan. Not one tiny hiccup. His first wave had gone in, killed all the guards without an alarm and secured the town, he'd taken half his force to the fort to meet up with the second wave, who had landed right where they were supposed to have. And now the gates to the fort stood open, the guards had been downed by a pair of throwing knives he was sure wouldn't hit, but did so in both of their throats. He was beginning to think it was a trap, in-fact he KNEW it was. Nothing went this well, not even buttering bread. /span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"But he knew he had to go on, he couldn't leave this ancient fortress in enemy hands, and couldn't garrison it with his own troops, leaving one option. Take it, then destroy as much of it as he could, or die trying./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;""Be ready for anything, this could be a trap." He glanced around at his people, they nodded, and he turned back to the gate, and rushed in, hammer on his back and pepperbox in hand./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"The gatehouse was way two easy, only two guards per side, and both were drunk. But it was secure, and the gatehouse itself was a small fortress, so he left two dozen men to guard it leaving him with a bit under 200 span class="Apple-converted-space" /spanto continue. 'but needs must when the devils up your ass.' He thought grumpily as he looked at his men./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;""Focus on the outer walls guns, spike em, roll em off the wall or whatever, just disable them if you can. And get off as fast as you can. I don't want anyone getting killed by our own guns." And with that, most of his crew started to screw with the big guns and mortars, while he and his best and sneakiest, went for the second wall./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"It took an hour for the idiots in the second wall to realize anything was going on, and in that time, he and his troops had disabled all but two guns had set a timed bomb in the powder magazine, and were preparing to get out when one poor, stupid infantryman, walked out of his barracks and saw Gajeels infamous hammer in the light of the lantern he held./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"He barely had the time to scream before the captain, literally, knocked the head from his shoulders. /span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;""GET OUT YOU MOTHERLESS DOGS, NOW!" He shouted in a voice that could be herd through the wildest of storms or the most savage of broadsides. /span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"With that they all ran as the fortress came alive around them. They got through the second wall gate before the first shot was fired./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;""THATS IT, LET THOSE BASTERDS HAVE IT!" Shouted Lilly, and the whole side of the ship erupted in fire and smoke as the guns finally got to have their say. span class="Apple-converted-space" /spanThe ship had backed off another 500 yards try and avoid the first few shots that were bound to go off, but as the guns began barking individually, no response came. /span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"'I hope this isn't a trap.' He thought, his gut clenching in worry. "THATS IT YOU SEA RATS! SHOW THEM WHAT A REAL WARSHIP CAN DO!"/span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"Garrison commander Jose woke to the roar of the guns. He knew them, 40 pounders, with a few lighter 30s and the deafening boom of 50s. But worse, he knew that whistling that the rounds made. /span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"The sound of Magnolian screamers, it was the sound that ran him out of the navy, and it only came from rifled guns. /span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"When his officers came, he had them run to the underground bunkers, and ordered the men to do so if they could. It was just before he descends the stairs, when he saw the messenger disappear into a fine red mist as a round shattered the building behind him./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"'That spie will pay for this. It was supposed to be next month!' He thought, grinding his teeth./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"The door opened as the sky began to lighten, and already Levi could make out her new favorite ship, she couldn't see her in detail, but she could make out her six colossal masts as they stretched to the sky. There was no doubt about it. She was a Feore dreadnought, the largest ships to float, 600 feet from bow to stern, and 120 abeam, and mounting over 500 guns. /span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"(Authors note: I've based her off of Chinese treasure ships, she's a bit smaller but not by much and unlike them is 3 decked, fun fact she's nearly three times the size of HMS Victory, and is 200ish feet shorter than the Yorktown class aircraft carriers(ww2) and about as wide. She also has more guns than the Victory, Santisima Trinadad, and USS Pennsylvania combined. And unlike any of them, all of her guns are rifled even if most are slightly smaller.(Three of the biggest wooden warships(yes I'm a bit of a ship geek)(another way of say this is it's a 47story building on its side and about 3 story's tall)also, the whistle is caused by smallish holes in the skirt of the rounds, it acts kinda like a high speed whistle.(they look like mini balls(yes I know I spelt it wrong, but spellcheck isn't cooperating) The guns are breach loading bag guns so they fire a bit faster than the standard cannon, like post Civil war guns as opposed to napoleons.)/span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"Even now she thought it was a waste of good timber, but she sure as hell couldn't complain about this one. Even if she thought frigates were more economical, that big girl packed a heavy broadside./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"She reluctantly turned to face the door, and saw a man she instantly realized. /span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;""G-Gajeel!" She stammered as tears began to leak from her eyes, she couldn't help it. "I-I thought you were dead."/span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"He stood there a moment, stunned, then smashed the cell door open with his hammer, and suddenly stopped./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"'This can't be true, maybe one by one in different fights, but all at once? Impossible, she has to be a fraud. A fake stone in the bucket of geodes.' Gajeels thoughts ran wildly, it couldn't be true, she was dead! He'd given up after he'd heard about Hargion University, but... 'What if?'/span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"He looked her dead in the eye, and, talking fairy, began to make sure./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;""Our first boat, where'd we build it?" He asked./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"She looked confused for a second, then realized what he was doing and smiled. "In the main hall, broke two tables and built a raft out of them. Then tried to sail it in apple lake. It broke as soon as we got on and I had to save you from knee deep water." She deadpanned, "You were 10 and still couldn't swim, and to top it off, your father and mine wore out a switch each on us. Then our mothers got to us." She shivered slightly, as did he. Angry mothers are NEVER to be trifled with./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"He almost went to her then an there, but he had to be sure. /span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;""Worst punishment we ever got?" /span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"She almost looked sick. "When we stole those dried fruits, we were going to go she pearl bay," she glanced out the window, then refocused on him. "Then we got caught a mile from town and were forced to eat them all over the next three months, I haven't been able to eat raisins since, and you couldn't stomach dried pears." /span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"He smiled before she went on./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;""I told it was a stupid idea."/span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"He rolled his eyes grinning, "Who's dumber, the one with the stupid plan, or the one who knows it's stupid and goes anyway?"/span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"She lifted her left hand to make a gesture, but the finger she needed was gone. She quickly switched to the right, and makes the aforementioned gesture./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"Gajeel felt a familiar anger rise inside him when he saw he hand, but forced it back down./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;""What's the name of this blade?" He pulled a knife from his boot and held it up to the light that had grown enough to see the rainbow it had as a finish/span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"It was thinner than she remembered, but just as sharp. It had the same runes that they'd sworn to get tattooed on their arms. "The blades name is Defiance, the inscription is in our cypher, and it says, together to whatever end. It's a twin to one I was forced to leave in Hargion. It's name, is Resilience, with the same inscription."/span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"With this he finally went to her and hugged her. She tried to reciprocate but, the chains on her wrists prevented it./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;""Sorry." He said, letting go and grabbing the splitters he had in his pocket. They were a simple tool, designed for splitting things like shackles and steel collars. With a quick jerk, he snapped first one, then the other. He dropped them the moment she was free, and she tackled him in a hug. It was really her, and he clutched her to him as if she would turn to mist./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;""You're crushing me." She said, as she poked him in the ribs, hard./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"He eased up a bit but held on, it had been 8 long years after all, 7 that he thought she was dead. Now she was in his arms, safe./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"Commander Jose finally got out of his bunker, around midnight the next night, to a scene of utter devastation. The main tower was gone, as were most of the walls. Only one lone tower remained of the masterwork that was the fortress of pearl bay, the rest was ruins. /span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"'And those damn pirates are all gone.' He snarled internally. They would pay for this, he swore to himself. /span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"He saw a lone lieutenant climbing from a bunker nearby and snapped an order at him. /span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;""Lieutenant! Round up the garrison. Let's see how much this has cost us."/span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;""Yes sir!" The man saluted hurriedly and ran off. /span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"He knew it was high. He had heard all three magazines explode during the bombardment, and knew the bunkers were few and far between. /span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"'Those basterds never leave many survivors when they raid our garrisons here. Maybe this job wasn't as safe as I thought.' He turned speculatively towards the sea. 'If nothing else, at sea, I can runaway from those monsters.' He sighed. He had more important things to do now, but he was sure of one thing, he was NEVER going to command another fort./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;""How are they doc?" Gajeel asked, as the women finally walked out./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;""Physically, most are stable." The elderly women pulled out a smoke, and offered him one. He politely declined before she went on. "Mentally though... that's a whole other story." She lit her cig. "A few of the girls are catatonic, or as close as makes no difference, same with a couple of men here and there. I'm no head shrink so I can't help 'em. A couple of others, well, I need some minders so that they don't do something stupid."/span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;""Suicidal?"/span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;""Three of em, I figure most that broke that way already found their way out." /span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"He winced at her bluntness. Doc Porliuska had little in the way of tact./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;""A good half dozen others are just, well, homicidal as hell." She continued./span/p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;""All are sedated,heavily. The rest, well, as I said, they all need shrinks. span class="Apple-converted-space" /spanA good 50 are mostly functional, more or less, but that's it, and I'd only trust half of them with rifles. The others need a long time to decompress, and be functional again."/span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"Gajeel frowned, that left him 25 out of nearly 500 in some sort of fighting shape, but these people have been through a lot. "How many might recover, do you think?" /span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"Porliuska shrugged, taking a long drag on her cig. "Honestly I don't have the faintest clue, it could be all of them, the 25 that seem stable, or they could all be fucked for life. I just don't know." She shot him a look. "Except one. She's sick as hell and still needs a shrink, but, well, she seems like she's already recovering."/span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;""Levi?" /span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;""No, one of the catatonic girls, of course her. It's down right spooky. The only thing I can find wrong with her, aside from the missing finger and..." she stopped short. What she was about to say might drive the whole crew into a rage so great that they would turn the ship around to go, take care of, any Alvearens unlucky enough to have survived the bombardment./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;""Rape?" Gajeel asked bluntly./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;""Almost all of them. So far I've only found five of our people who weren't, in one way or another. It seems like it was something of a sport among some of the guards." She sighed, exhausted. "They were there for six years. Those Alvearen guards were worse than anything I've ever seen. Some of our people were particularly skinned in some areas, others were just beaten. One man, Bixslow is his name, was dragged around behind a horse for a good wile, based on the injuries to his back and sides." She shuddered. "His injuries healed a wile ago, thank the fairy's and dragons both for chuna berries, but still he's lucky to be alive."/span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"For a moment, rage burned inside Gajeel, worse than anything he had felt before, but he quickly mastered it. It was an old trick by now. "We can't go back." He said slowly, his anger still fighting him, turning his voice into a growl. "If we do, then the fleet will be back, hell we barley had time to do what we did. Going back would be suicide." Even to his own ears, he sounded like he was trying to convince himself./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;""Get them ready, we will reach Teneru in a day. But for now, get some sleep, I'll send you the minders in the morning." With that, he turned and left for his cabin./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"He stopped short, and turned back to the old woman. "Is Levi one of the ones you'd call stable?"/span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"She sighed. "Only in the loosest definition, she's not suicidal, or catatonic. But she's hurting, bad." She shook her head. "She's changed boy. She is still the girl we knew, but she's not too. She's almost as bloodthirsty as you are now, and I don't blame her. She's been through a lot." Porliuska sat on a barrel, and lit another cigarette, her previous one burned down to her fingers, and tossed into a steel bucket. /span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"Gajeel waited for a moment, thinking, and pulled something from his pocket. A short dagger with runes on its sheath. "If you think she's stable enough," he hesitated, "Give this to her, I want to do it myself, but..." he trailed off./span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;""She's stable enough. Just go give it to her." /span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;""Your sure?"/span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;""Yes. Now get her that damn oversized knife already. Third door on the left." He nodded and rushed to comply. /span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"Porliuska shook her head and smiled, slightly. Soon it would almost be like old times, those two would be raising hell again. Her smile turned sad as she remembered their parents, her oldest friends, lost in the sieges of Appapie and Magnolia. /span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p  
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"'You'd better be watching up there,' She prayed silently. 'Because these two will give us another grand old show'/span/p  
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: '.SF UI Text'; color: #454545; min-height: 20.3px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p 


End file.
